Notwithstanding his continued curiosity for History, particularly regarding memory and remembrance culture, he entered the field of cultural sociology by enrolling for the Research Master in Sociology of Culture, Media and the Arts at the same university. As a part of this program, he studied one semester at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. In 2013 he graduated (cum laude) on the topic of whiteness and rock music with his master thesis ‘Just like Hendrix: Whiteness and the critical and consumer reception of rock music in the United States, 2003-2013′. His thesis was short-listed for the ‘NSV Thesis Award 2014’ by the Dutch Sociological Association (NSV) and was published in Popular Communication. This article was subsequently nominated for ‘Best Article 2015’ by the Graduate School Award for PhD Excellence.

In May 2013, together with Pauwke Berkers and Koen van Eijck, Julian received a five-year grant (#322-45-003) from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) as a part of Doctorates in Humanities (‘Promoties in de Geesteswetenschappen’) to pursue his PhD on the topic of whiteness and rock music. The international project is entitled ‘Elvis has finally left the building? Boundary work, whiteness and the reception of rock music in comparative perspective.’ He started his PhD and work as a lecturer in October 2013. In 2015, Julian was awarded a Fulbright grant for a 5-month research exchange to Emory University in Atlanta, GA, United States. Based on this research project, Julian was selected by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) as one of the Netherlands’ ‘Faces of Science‘. You can follow the project on Facebook and Twitter.

In general, his research interests include: social stratification, inequality along ethno-racial and gender lines (intersectionality), popular culture, online-offline interaction, and contemporary spirituality/religion.

Currently, Julian is also working on two other research projects, respectively on religious meaning-making in World of Warcraft (together with Stef Aupers) and on gender inequality in the extreme metal scene (together with Pauwke Berkers). He has reviewed for the journals Poetics,New Media & Society, Symbolic Interaction, and Sociologie. He is member of the Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Culture and Communication (ERMeCC), Netherlands-Flanders Communication Association (NEFCA) and the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities (EGS3H).